Page 26 of Get Kraken

Their comfort and intimacy with each other was already noticeable. There was so much more to be done, but Mike was pleased with their progress so far.

Chase threw Mike’s pants in his face.

“Stop admiring the view and get dressed. We need you in the water.”

“Wait,” Olivia said, pulling a bikini top over her breasts, making Mike just a little sad as she covered them. “Do we have everything we need, or do we need to go back to base?”

Chase pulled his jacket around his shoulders. “Yep, I have our go-kit in the trunk.” They had an emergency kit for this situation, in case they had to go into the water without a chance to set up cameras first. The little seashell-collecting bag Olivia used had cameras and sonar that she could drop in her path. Chase would monitor them through his laptop and mobile devices and tablets.

Olivia nodded. She put on her brave face and followed Chase to the door.

Mike stayed behind them.

He didn’t want Chase, or Olivia for that matter, to see how much this bothered him.

Until those cameras were set up, Mike was going to be the only one with eyes on her in the water. And they were going after something that was apparently very big. He didn’t like not knowing what they were going to face, and he didn’t like his mate being in the line of fire.

But that’s what they’d prepared for this whole time. Operation Olivia as Bait.

Chase glanced back. He clearly felt how much Mike didn’t like this, but he didn’t say anything. Not when they locked up and left the hotel, and not when they were in the car heading to the site.

Probably because he wasn’t happy about the situation either.

Mike watchedher through the dark, depths, staring up at her from his place in the deep below.

Admiring the view. Protecting it.

Not that there was much light to be had for his viewing pleasure. The moon was barely out. Everything was dim, but there was a difference between the cold black of the deeper waters and the navy blue of water and sky from above.

Olivia looked like little more than a shadow, but he sensed every moment.

She put the cameras in place as she swam around. Hid the sonar equipment in the rock and seaweed, and the more she did so, the more at ease Mike became.

Though he never relaxed.

It didn’t matter how many eyes were on her. If something was out there that wanted to kidnap her and sell her on a black market, she was still in danger.

And it was apparently something big.

So big that the teenagers barely got their friend out of its jaws.

So big that the young man might lose his leg.

This thing had proven that it was willing to kill if the victims fought back enough, and its latest victim was lucky, all things considered.

But it was when the descriptions of the male came in, before Mike had shifted and gone into the water, that unnerved him the most.

Red hair. Not bright orange. Not ginger. Blood red hair, like Olivia.

That was new. The other victims hadn’t had a pattern of red hair. Was it a coincidence? Or had the attacker been watching them, waiting? Grown impatient and sent out a message by choosing a substitute for Olivia?

Hard to say, but if there was any chance that their exercises had made an impression, then they might just be able to draw this fucker out.

Mike felt every motion of her long arms, the flow of her tentacles as they rolled along, moving her through the water. She made a show of wandering, almost dancing along in the water, trying to tempt the attacker to make a move.

Then, when the fucker showed himself, Mike could swim in and make the arrest.

Kraken weren’t the only creatures who could shift halfway.

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